Heat exchanger



April 1, 1947. A. Y @UNTER TAL 2,418,405

HEAT EXCHANGER Filed June 8, 1945 INVENTORS Add/son Y' Gunfel' Geore Far/ras C www A RNEY Patented apr, 1, 1947 HEAT EXCHANGER Addison Y. Gunter, Larchmont, and George B. Farkas, Jackson Heights. N. Y., assignors to American Locomotive Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 8,1945, serial No. 598,244

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in heat exchangers.

An object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger having a shell openable at one end, and a cross fin tube-baille assemblage in the shell removable therefrom through the openable end of the shell, for cleaning and repair, the bales being thereafter removable from the iin-tube for cleaning, repair, replacement or adjustment. l

Other and further objects of this invention appear from the following description, the ac- Y companying drawing and the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing forming a part of this application, Figure 1 is a foreshortened side view of an exchanger constructed in accordance with this invention, partly in central section, some of the ns of the tubes being indicated in dotdash lines; Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section through the heat exchanger, taken on the line IlI--II4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of the heat exchanger, taken on the line III-III of Fig. 2, the bars of the baille assemblies being partly broken away and some of the fins of one of the tubes being indicated in dot-dash lines; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of a heat exchanger constructed in accordance with a modification of this invention, taken on the line IV--IV of Fig. 5; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 taken on the line V-V of Fig-4; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one baille and a portion of the bar therefor of the embodiment of Figs. 4 and 5, the baille being unattached and separated from the bar to better illustrate their construction.

The heat. exchanger of Figs. 1-3 is indicated generally by the reference numeral I. It includes a cylindrical shell 2 provided at its opposite ends with bolting anges 3 and 4 respectively. The bolting iianges are each part of a member butt-welded to the end of the cylindrical pipe-like main part of the shell and the inside diameter of the members and main part are similar to the end that the entire inside of the shell from the outside of one bolting flange to the outside of the other bolting flange is similar, unobstructed and continuous.

The end of the shell adjacent the flange 3 is shown uncovered in the drawing. However, it will be understood that a cover of any usual type 2 Claims. (Cl. 257-239) 5 of the shell at flange 3 will be considered the inlet end of the shell.

The other end of the shell is closed by a head 6 bolted to the ilange 4. The head 6 is sealed to the bolting flange 4 by a gasket 'I set in a recess 1a in the h ead and engaging an annular seat Ib integral with the flange 4. The head is provided with two diametrally aligned orifices 8 and 9, each threaded at its outer end for connection with a pipe and having grooves I 0 at its inner end portion.

The shell is further provided with a nozzle Il, in the present instance an outlet nozzle, welded in an opening in the side wall of the shell adjacent ilange 4. The lshell is supported on channel beam supports I2 engaging the outer face of the shell. These supports I2 may rest on other similar supports of other'exchangers of the instant type to form a battery of exchangers.

A U-tube member I3 is disposed in the shell. Its legs form two tubes I4 and I5 disposed at one end in the orifices 8 and 9 respectively and being secured therein by being swaged outwardly into the grooves III thereof. The other or inner ends of the tubes I4 and I5 are connected by a U- bend I6. Each of the tubes I4 and I5 has bare end portions and therebetween cross ilus I'I. The cross fins are shown to.be of the. helical type but may be parallel, spaced strictly-transverse cross ns if desired.

The iins I1 are relatively short in radial height and are very much shorter in diameter than the having a nozzle will be bolted on the flange 3. l

For the purposes ofthe present' description, it will be assumed that this nczzle` adjacent flange 3 will be the shell inlet nozzle. Therefore the open end diameter of the shell. The tubes I4 and I5 are in a diametral plane of the shell with the diametrally outermost edges of their ns in close proximity to diametrally opposite portions of the inner wall of the shell. A considerable space is provided between the tubes, that is, between the diametrally innermost edges of the ns of the tubes. Furthermore, While the ns are in close proximity with the shell in the diametral plane of the tubes, at right angles to this plane the shell wall is quite remote from the ns, providing two large spaces I8 and VI3 on opposite sides of the tubes. This-is due to the fact that the shell and iins are circular in cross section an of Widely different diameters,

A ba-flle assembly having two parts is Vassociated with the tubes and is adapted to be removed from the shell with the tubes, as will later more fully appear. Thus the tubes and bafile' assembly "form a cross iin tube-baille assemblage. Each baille assembly part includes a bar 20, rectangular in cross section, provided with langues ounces 2| through its wide sides. Each* I9. The baflles bridge and engage the tubes and changerofFig.4.` In the exchanger lof Fig. 4, the" bars may be nt between flns of the tubes, the ns, if necessary,lbeing bent to permit this positioning of the bailles. Thus the bailles hold the bars in spaced relation. The bailles of one bar are staggered in relation to the baffles of the other bar. Thel bales are concentric with the inner wall oi' the shell and when disposed on the tubes have their y outer curved edges in close proximity to the lnner wall of the shell. The bars substantially flll the space between the tubes, preventing material axial flow of shell fluid through this space.

The baflles cause the shell iluid, which may be for instance cold oil,`to ow through the shell instance steam.

While the two baille assembly parts would be held in place on the tubes by the close t of the curved edges of the bailles and the inner Wall of the shell, nevertheless positive means are provided for attaching the baffle assembly parts rmly to the tubes. This `means constitutes a plurality of bolts 23 passing through aligned oriflces 2|, pulling the bars toward each other and making the straight edges of the baiiles close tightly on the outer faces .of the tubes, in eect vclamping the tubes between the bailles of the When it is desired to clean the spaces between the ns of the tubes or to repair any part oi the tube-baille assemblage or the inside of the shell, it is only necessary to unbolt the head 6 and pull it away from the iiange 4, the tube-baffle assemblage moving with the head until it is out of the shell. Thus the present invention provides a heat exchanger permitting maintenance and repair of the various parts to be easily and economically executed. 'A shell drain 24, which is normally plugged, is formed in the shell flange 4.

The heat exchanger I' shown in Figs. 4-6 is similar to the heat exchanger I of Figs. 1-3 but distinguishes therefrom in that the baflles 22' are not permanently attached to the bars 2li' but are each provided with an oriced tab 25 secured to the correlated bar by means of a screw 26, the bar having threaded oriflces 21 for receiving the screws 26. Other parts of this heat exchanger I corresponding to like parts of the heat exchanger 1 are indicated by like references with an accent added.

As shown in the drawing, and in accordance with preferred construction, each of the shells contains only a single U-tube member. 'Ihus a simple and eillcient heat exchanger, lending itself to low cost cleaning, maintenance and repair, has been effected.

' An important feature of the present invention 'is that einer wenn tube-bane assemblage has been removed from the shell, the baille assembly may be removed from the fin-tube for cleaning, repair or replacement. In the exchanger of Fig. l, should it be desired to change the baffle spacing, the two baffle assembly parts may be replaced by other baille assembly parts having a dierent number of baftles.l The same applies to the exprovided with extra threaded orifices` so that 'extra bailles may be bolted thereonI if desired.

Where one bar only is used, or'where the two bars when used engage each other, then the baffles need not rest on the tubes but may be slightly spaced therefrom.

While there have been hereinbefore described approved embodiments of this invention, it will be understood that many and various changes and modifications inform, arrangement of parts and details of construction lthereof may be made withoutvdeparting from the spirit of the invention, and that all such changes and modications as fall within the scope of the appended claims are contemplated as a part of this invention. The invention claimed and desired to be secured by letters Patent is:

1. A heat exchanger comprising a cylindrical shell openable at one end and having an inlet and an outlet; a single series of two tubes in said shell disposed in a diametral plane thereof, each of said tubes having external cross fins, said tubes being disposed so that the diametrally outermost portions of said ns are adjacent diametrally opposed portions of said shell, the diameters of said fins being such in relation to the diameter of said shell that a space is provided between the ns of one of said tubes and the fins of the other of said tubes, and opposite wide spaces are provided between said ns and said shell inner wall on opposite sides of said plane; means connecting said tubes at their inner ends for series iiow therethrough, the other ends of said tubes forming one an inlet and theother an outlet; a baffle assembly of two parts disposed in Said shell, one part on each side of said diametral plane, each of said parts including a bar disposed in said space between said tubes and a plurality of spaced bales secured to said bar, each of said baies having an inner edge bridging and engaging said two tubes and fitting between fins thereof and a curved outer edge concentric with and adjacent the inner wall of said shell; and means connecting said bars, said bars substantially lilling said space between said tubes, said baflles of one of said parts being disposed in one of said opposed spaces and staggered with relation to the bailles of the other of said parts disposed in the other of said opposed spaces for effecting a flow of shell fluid through said shell back `and forth across said tubes, said tubes and wbaille assembly being removable from said shell as a unit and said baille assembly then being removable from said tubes.

2. A heat exchanger comprising a cylindrical .v

shell openable at one end and having an inlet and an outlet; a. single set of two tubes in said shell disposed in a diametral plane thereof, each of said tubes having external cross ns, said tubes being disposed so that the diametrally outermost portions of said ns are adjacent diametrally op- ,3

posed portions of said shell, the diameters of said lns being such in relation to the diameter of said shell that a space is provided between the fins of one of said tubes and the fins ofthe other of animos said tubes, and opposite between said ns and said shell inner wall on opposite sides of said plane; and a baffle assembly disposed in said shell, including a baffle support disposed in said space between said tubes and a plurality of spaced bailles secured to said support, each of said ballles having an inner edge extending over said two tubes and fitting between fins thereof and a curved outer edge concentric with and adjacent the inner wall of said shell, said support substantially filling .said space between said tubes, some of said baiiles being disposed in one of said opposed spaces and staggered with relation to the remainder of said bafliles, which are disposed in the other of said opped spaces for effecting a ow of shell fluid through said shell back and forth across said wide spaces are' provided v tubes. said tubes and bame assembly being removable from said shell as a unit. n

. ADDISON Y. GUNTER.

GEORGE B. FARKAS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

